Four women’s and six
men’s teams will
compete for the top
spots in the region and
qualification spots for
the 2014 IBSA Goalball
World Championships
in Finland.
On the heels of the European
Championships, goalball action will
start up again on Wednesday (13
November), when the 2013 IBSA
Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships
begin in Beijing, China.
Four women’s and six men’s teams
will compete for the top spots in the
region and qualification spots for the
2014 IBSA Goalball World
Championships in Finland.
The men’s and women’s gold-medal games are scheduled for Sunday (17 November).
Women
Host nation China’s women’s team have already qualified for next year’s World Championships, having won
silver at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The women were also gold medallists at the 2010 IBSA Goalball
World Championships in Sheffield, Great Britain.
The Japanese women’s goalball team, also competing in these Asia-Pacific Championships, qualified for the
2014 World Championships after winning gold at London 2012.
Iran and Australia, the other women’s teams competing in Beijing, will be vying for the last Asia-Pacific-region
women’s spot in next year’s Championships.
Men
The two spots allotted for men’s teams from the Asia-Pacific region at the World Championships remain up for
grabs. It’s anyone’s guess which two men’s teams in this competition – China, Australia, Iran, Japan, Mongolia,
and Thailand – will be going to Finland.
Based on the new world rankings, China and Iran may have the best chance of claiming the top men’s spots.
China’s men’s team, No. 16 in the world rankings, won silver at the 2010 World Championships, while Iran, No.
13 in the world, won bronze. Both the Chinese and Iranian men were quarter-finalists two years later at the
Paralympics in London.